A suspected prowler was held at gunpoint by neighbors and later admitted that he was intending to break into a man's house "to see what was inside," police in Washington County said.

"I watched him fumble around on the seat, picking something up. Then, he went around the bush, around the tree in front of the house and entered the front porch that way. I knew something was up," said neighbor Jim Cain, who was smoking a cigarette when he noticed Jed Shoemaker pull into the neighbor's yard.

The incident happened on the night of July 21 around 11:30. Cain told his girlfriend to call another neighbor, Dwayne "Eddie" Zenobi. The two men, armed with a handgun and a shotgun, approached the house and confronted Shoemaker.

"We told him to freeze, and he wanted to know what kind of guns we were carrying. He told us we couldn't carry. I'm permitted to carry guns. With a shotgun, which Eddie had, you don't need a permit to carry," Cain said.

The men held Shoemaker at gunpoint until the police arrived.

"He told me we were ruining his life by calling the Police Department. I said he should have thought about that before he tried to commit the burglary," Cain said.

Found outside the home on Route 88 in Union Township were a claw hammer, crowbar and flashlight, according to a report released Thursday by Southwest Regional Police.

At his Finleyville apartment on Thursday morning, 34-year-old Shoemaker declined to talk about why the equipment was found at the prowling scene, and he said his truck had broken down that night. Police said Shoemaker confessed to them he was going to break inside the home and look around.

"We work very hard for what we have. We're not going to lose it because someone wants to try and get stuff easy," Cain said.

Charges of loitering and prowling at night and possessing instruments of crime have been filed with District Judge James Ellis. Police Chief John Hartman said they were unable to charge Shoemaker with attempted burglary, a felony, because he had not actually tried to enter the home before neighbors intervened. Hartman added he is glad the neighbors were vigilant and everything ended well.

"If a citizen is going to do that, they got to be careful because these types of incidents can go horribly wrong quickly," Hartman said.

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